ldrcycles wrote:Hell when my parents first took up farming out here in the 70s they still had a manual telephone exchange in town. Mind you there were also about 50 dairy farms in the district, and now there are none .

Very similar here, although the dairy farms are still there, just not as many (Bega Cheese country). Our first phone here was one of those black Bakelite ones. You picked up the handset, turned the little handle on the front a couple of times and a voice (always female) would answer. You'd say the number you wanted and they put you through. My parents still have the same 3-digit number, they just kept adding prefixes to it.

"If your next bike does not have disc brakes, the bike after that certainly will"- Me

silentbutdeadly wrote:Moving to a new place is never straightforward and here in the Great Nowhere even more so but the biggest mistake that many newbies make is thinking that the new life will come to them the way they are rather than realising that the new life requires them to actually be something different to what they were and get out there and grab what is on offer. City folk don't have much in common with country folk...but if the city folk don't live in the city any more then what are they? They can't have it both ways...

Never heard it told like that - very sound advice - thank you!

EDIT: I do know that it takes some getting used to the change of pace. We used to go up the coast and stay at the beach for two weeks at Xmas time. I recall spending the first week getting frustrated at how slow everyone moved (literally) and how slowly everything happened. I also felt I was 'wasting' the day if I wasn't reading or swimming or doing something productive. The second week was a completely different experience, and I could notice my adjustment in attitude and I felt a lot more relaxed. These days we've cut it back to 1 week, so we can do other travel throughout the year, and although I consciously try to get into that '2nd week' frame-of-mind as quickly as possible, it's still not the same!

Last edited by tcdev on Mon Aug 04, 2014 5:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

silentC wrote:Regarding 'compatibility' of country people, I must say I find that an odd and, dare I say it, slightly pretentious point of view. Having spent as much time in Sydney as I have, there are as many bogans there as anywhere else. I suppose it depends on where you go, but definitely where I live, we are every bit as cosmopolitan as city people, without the neuroses

I freely admit that it is slightly pretentious. But I'd also say that my wife feels a bit stronger about this particular point than I do. Her views of the world have slowly been changing over the years; between you & I motherhood was a real eye-opener for her for example. Let's just say that she has a new-found respect for mothers that she was perhaps lacking a few years ago! Still, she's not there yet... She also covets her privacy, and I suspect that 'country hospitality', however innocent and well-intentioned, won't sit comfortably with her for a while at least.

Granted there is certainly no shortage of bogans in Sydney; I guess it's easier to avoid them altogether in the relative anonymity of a big city, where it's perfectly acceptable to not talk to your neighbours, for example!

My mother was raised in a country town and my cousins are still there. Each year we spend a week at the beach in a caravan park with my cousin and it's like a clash of cultures. They are surrounded by friends who walk in/out of their place like it's their own, the kids who could belong to anyone they way they run from van-to-van playing, a half-dozen different people every single night drinking beer with them outside their tent. Every 5 mins of the day there's someone walking past who yells "g'day" or stops for a 10 min chat. As a kid we'd arrive there with my parents and we'd have re-acquainted ourselves with half the park before the 1st bag was unloaded from the car.

These days we stay not 30 metres away in a cabin, and it's like we're in the next town. I'm constantly torn between spending time with my cousin and time with my wife & daughter. She's happy for me to see him but quite frankly it's a little embarrassing because she has little interest in mingling. She'll make the token appearance every second night, but that's about it.

barefoot wrote:Don't skim over the middle option, between small town country living and big capital cities. A lot can be said for living in a smaller city.

I don't think we've discounted that at all; truth-be-told it's probably more likely than a small country town, especially since we're probably looking at somewhere on the coast.

I'm quite familiar with Tamworth, having a friend who lived there for years. I used to travel up there quite a bit for the weekends when I was single, and then a few times more with my now-wife, at least until his (ex)wife turned into the b*tch from hell. Can't say I thought much of it at all - even my friend left Tamworth the same week he left his wife. That said, I'm not holding it against similar-sized towns.

tcdev wrote: I do know that it takes some getting used to the change of pace.

It can...though some times it ain't fast enough. Back in 2000, I moved from Avalon on Sydney's northern beaches (and an hour each way commute) to Bourke in far western NSW...let's just say that the change of pace was precipitous and the adaptation time rather short...but my following five years there were great fun.

She also covets her privacy, and I suspect that 'country hospitality', however innocent and well-intentioned, won't sit comfortably with her for a while at least.

Being a tourist town, where I live is not really your stereotypical country town. The 'out of towners' probably outnumber the locals these days. It has a history of people coming in from the big smoke and doing most of the moving and shaking and that dates back more than 100 years

I'm a bit of a home body/private person. I don't like everyone knowing my business. My wife is less so and needs people around her. She works in retail, I work from home. Days go by when the only time I leave the immediate environs of house is to go for a ride. I spend the rest of my time in the vege garden or with the chooks or in the shed. Suits me fine. I grew up here and can walk down the street without seeing a single person I know, my wife can't walk 100 paces from the car without bumping into half a dozen people she knows.

I guess what I am saying is that you and your wife would find plenty of people just like yourselves in a place like this. You can keep to yourself, get involved up to the eyeballs, or anywhere in between, whatever you like. There are plenty of things going on. Most of what we do outside the house involves sport (kid's sport, cycling, golf). If you are that way inclined you can get right into the organisational side of your kid's sporting teams, which is a good way to meet people. There's the beach and the surf club, horse riding and pony club, the snow is 2 hours from here. Pubs, clubs, shopping malls. But if you just want to stay at home and mind your own business, no-one will invade your privacy.

But go 30km inland from here and everyone will know your business

"If your next bike does not have disc brakes, the bike after that certainly will"- Me

I've lived in Country Victoria, 4 suburbs in Melbourne now country NSW and I'd have to say people are people where ever you go! Good and bad everywhere. On my honeymoon in Vanuatu I was talking to one of the guides and found he had moved from a smaller island(town) to the capital for work.

Exactly what myself and wife had done moving from country Victoria to Melbourne, I don't believe there is much difference in peoples wants and needs ANYWHERE in the world. Comes down to choice in the end and I choose Country!

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